Halo: Uprising
Encyclopedia
Halo: Uprising is a four-issue American comic book
limited series
set in the Halo
universe. The series was written by Brian Michael Bendis
, illustrated by Alex Maleev
, and published by Marvel Comics
. Uprising tells a story set between the ending of the 2004 video game Halo 2
and the beginning of its sequel, Halo 3
, as Earth is under attack by a collective of alien races known as the Covenant
. The series was intended to be released and concluded before Halo 3 shipped on September 25, 2007, but the final issue did not appear until April 2009.
The series was brought together by Ruwan Jayatilleke, Marvel's Vice President of Development. He attained the license to publish Halo comics, including the single-volume The Halo Graphic Novel, in 2005. The graphic novel's critical and commercial success prompted Marvel to announce a new Halo limited series in 2006 with Jayatilleke serving as the series' editor. Bendis, a long-time Halo fan, was excited about adding to the franchise story.
Reception to the series was lukewarm. The series' artistic style was generally praised. However, the lack of Master Chief
-focused action and character development—as well as the delays in publishing—led to average reviews. The series was commercially successful and appeared in the top slot of The New York Times
Graphic Books bestsellers list.
Marvel Vice President of Development Ruwan Jayatilleke contacted game developer Bungie
about extending the Halo franchise to comics. Jayatilleke noted that Bungie's dedication to creating a believable world compelling to both hardcore and casual fans made the series "an attractive fit" for Marvel. In 2005, Marvel learned that Bungie had already created an original graphic novel, entitled The Halo Graphic Novel, but needed a publisher and distributor. Interested, Brian Michael Bendis
and Jayatilleke visited Bungie to take up the offer of publishing the Halo Graphic Novel as well as to discuss the possibility of a tie-in comic book series.
The Halo Graphic Novel proved to be a critical and commercial success; the comic debuted at the number two position on the Diamond Comic Distributors
' sales charts and more than 100,000 copies were published. Marvel Comics and Bungie announced the first Halo limited comic series, Halo: Uprising, at the San Diego
Comic-Con 2006
.
Brian Michael Bendis, writer for the series, said in an interview he was "honored" to add to the Halo lore. He noted that the graphic novel brought "humanity and perspective" to the franchise, something not easily imparted through the games. Bendis described himself as a longtime player of Halo and had "done [his] Halo homework", reading and playing everything Halo. Bendis stated that Bungie was open to the Marvel team exploring lesser-known elements of the Halo universe or even bringing up new ideas, as opposed to sticking to a script or set of preplanned ideas from Bungie or Microsoft. The Philadelphia Daily News suggested that a Halo comic book would attract readers who had never picked up a comic book before. Bendis said that drawing casual gamers to the comics was a major goal for the series. While using established characters meant that Bendis had to cooperate with Bungie and Microsoft, he said he did not feel it was a restriction. "You can get pretty bloated and sloppy with total autonomy all the time." The Bungie team allowed Bendis to explore lesser known areas of the Halo story, which he enjoyed. Writing the dialogue for the Master Chief, who is faceless and normally silent during gameplay, was a challenge; Bendis scrapped much of the drafted dialogue to allow Maleev's work to define the character.
Originally, Halo: Uprisings entire four-issue series was to be published before the September 25, 2007, release of Halo 3. Bendis suggested that the series might be delayed unexpectedly due to the close cooperation between Marvel and Bungie. For unspecified reasons, the release of all issues of Halo: Uprising were pushed back. Issue #1's original date of August 15, 2007, was pushed back a week to August 22. Issue #2's original date of August 29 was pushed back and released on November 21. Issue #3 was originally slated for a September 2007 release but was pushed to a final release date of nearly a year late in August 2008. The constant revisions of the date became a running forum joke at the fan site Halo.Bungie.Org
. Issue #4 also saw multiple delays, pushed from a scheduled October 31, 2007 release to March 4 and then March 18, 2009. Claude Errera of Halo.Bungie.Org noted that, given the series' track record and the fact that the issue's release had been moved more than a dozen times by that time, its appearance in March would be unlikely. In announcing two new Halo comic series from Marvel in February 2009, Jayatilleke informed IGN
that the final issue was in the process of being colored. The final release date for the issue was April 15. The series was collected into a single volume released in May 2009 (ISBN 0-7851-3647-9). The collected hardcover features a variety of bonus art and "making of" materials.
, in which the alien collective known as the Covenant
discovers the location of Earth and begins a full-scale invasion of their enemy's homeworld. The supersoldier Master Chief
is stowed away aboard an ancient Forerunner ship. On a course set for Earth, he is overwhelmed by a Covenant strike force and rendered unconscious. In the next scene, Colonel James Ackerson is being tortured by Covenant forces on Mars, to whom he betrays the existence of something called "The Key of Osanalan." Ackerson admits the Key is located in Cleveland, Ohio
.
In Cleveland, the narrative follows the point of view of a hotel concierge named Ruwan as the city falls under attack by Covenant forces. In the mayhem he meets a woman named Myras Tyla. Tyla remains calm even as Ruwan edges towards all-out panic. The pair are captured and with other residents herded into a sports stadium. The Covenant declare that the humans must give up the location of the Key to save their lives; Tyla is confused, but Ruwan states he knows exactly what it is.
Onboard the Forerunner ship, the Master Chief is captured and interrogated by Covenant forces, but manages to escape using a concealed weapon. On Earth, Ruwan and Tyla escape detection by the Covenant and appropriate a vehicle in an effort to escape. Ruwan reveals that the Key is in fact a fictional object that he and his brother James Ackerson made up as children; James told the Covenant about the Key in order to prevent the outright destruction of Cleveland. After fighting Covenant forces, Ruwan and Tyla are rescued by marines and leave the city. The Master Chief attempts to kill the Covenant's leader, Prophet of Truth, but is discovered as he takes aim; Truth escapes as the Chief is left to kill the Prophet's guards and find a way off the ship. Learning that there is no way to change the Forerunner ship's destination, the Chief jumps to Earth using a piece of the vessel as a heat shield.
After informing the UNSC about the true nature of the Key, Ruwan volunteers to "give" the Key to the Covenant. He is captured and brought aboard a Covenant ship. While the Covenant believe he is to be rescued due to a tracker embedded in him, Ruwan reveals he is actually a target. A coilgun
takes aim at his position and destroys the ship. Upon learning that the Key is a fake, the Brutes on Mars behead Ackerson. In a relief camp, Tyla writes a song about Ruwan.
.
Reception to the miniseries varied. Reviewer Kevin Powers for Comics Bulletin
and Richard George of IGN
praised the action sequences and Maleev's visuals. The balance between action and story was also positively noted; Powers said that the first two sequences of the opening issue "masterfully capture the spirit of the game". On the other hand, IGN's Jesse Schedeen, reviewing the second issue, stated the series' appeal was mostly superficial: "try as they might to replicate [Halos] visceral moments, Bendis and Maleev just can't replicate the same feeling on the printed page."
Reviewers criticized the lack of Master Chief as a main character, similar to the response to the Halo Graphic Novel
; Schedeen said that "Master Chief is barely a guest star in his own book", and that he was reduced to blasting aliens for much of the series. Schedeen felt that there was a lack of connections between the Ruwan plot and the Master Chief's adventures, which was never satisfactorily resolved. The comic's focus on Ruwan and Myra's subplot was also seen as a major fault: Comics Bulletin
's Geoff Collins, in a review of the second issue, said that "as a comic book fan I’m interested [in Ruwan and Myra], but the Halo fans I know could [sic] care less about them. And the story in this issue centers around them." Schedeen was surprised to find that he only began to care about them in the final issue. The many delays in publishing were a frequent point of frustration as well. Schedeen summed up his reviews by saying that he was hopeful the production teams behind the upcoming Halo books "will learn from the mistakes made here and craft stories that can consistently capture what makes Halo fun. At the very least, let's hope we don't have to wait a year between issues anymore".
American comic book
An American comic book is a small magazine originating in the United States and containing a narrative in the form of comics. Since 1975 the dimensions have standardized at 6 5/8" x 10 ¼" , down from 6 ¾" x 10 ¼" in the Silver Age, although larger formats appeared in the past...
limited series
Limited series
A limited series is a comic book series with a set number of installments. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is determined before production and it differs from a one shot in that it is composed of multiple issues....
set in the Halo
Halo (series)
Halo is a multi-million dollar science fiction video game franchise created by Bungie and now managed by 343 Industries and owned by Microsoft Studios. The series centers on an interstellar war between humanity and a theocratic alliance of aliens known as the Covenant...
universe. The series was written by Brian Michael Bendis
Brian Michael Bendis
Brian Michael Bendis is an American comic book writer and erstwhile artist. He has won critical acclaim for his self-published, Image Comics and Marvel Comics work, and is one of the most successful writers working in mainstream comics, with his books selling consistently highly for over a...
, illustrated by Alex Maleev
Alex Maleev
Alex Maleev is a Bulgarian-born comic book illustrator, best known for the Marvel Comics' series Daredevil , collaborating with writer Brian Michael Bendis.-Career:...
, and published by Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
. Uprising tells a story set between the ending of the 2004 video game Halo 2
Halo 2
Halo 2 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie Studios. Released for the Xbox video game console on November 9, 2004, the game is the second installment in the Halo franchise and the sequel to 2001's critically acclaimed Halo: Combat Evolved...
and the beginning of its sequel, Halo 3
Halo 3
Halo 3 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie for the Xbox 360 console. The third installment in the Halo franchise, the game concludes the story arc begun in Halo: Combat Evolved and continued in Halo 2...
, as Earth is under attack by a collective of alien races known as the Covenant
Covenant (Halo)
The Covenant are a fictional theocratic military alliance of alien races who serve as the main antagonists in the Halo video game series. They are composed of a variety of diverse species, united under the religious worship of the enigmatic Forerunners and their belief that Forerunner ringworlds...
. The series was intended to be released and concluded before Halo 3 shipped on September 25, 2007, but the final issue did not appear until April 2009.
The series was brought together by Ruwan Jayatilleke, Marvel's Vice President of Development. He attained the license to publish Halo comics, including the single-volume The Halo Graphic Novel, in 2005. The graphic novel's critical and commercial success prompted Marvel to announce a new Halo limited series in 2006 with Jayatilleke serving as the series' editor. Bendis, a long-time Halo fan, was excited about adding to the franchise story.
Reception to the series was lukewarm. The series' artistic style was generally praised. However, the lack of Master Chief
Master Chief (Halo)
Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 is a fictional character and protagonist of the Halo fictional universe, created by Bungie. Master Chief is a player character in the trilogy of science fiction first-person shooter video games Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, and Halo 3 and will appear in the...
-focused action and character development—as well as the delays in publishing—led to average reviews. The series was commercially successful and appeared in the top slot of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
Graphic Books bestsellers list.
Publication history
Bungie
Bungie, Inc is an American video game developer currently located in Bellevue, Washington, USA. The company was established in May 1991 by University of Chicago undergraduate student Alex Seropian, who later brought in programmer Jason Jones after publishing Jones' game Minotaur: The Labyrinths of...
about extending the Halo franchise to comics. Jayatilleke noted that Bungie's dedication to creating a believable world compelling to both hardcore and casual fans made the series "an attractive fit" for Marvel. In 2005, Marvel learned that Bungie had already created an original graphic novel, entitled The Halo Graphic Novel, but needed a publisher and distributor. Interested, Brian Michael Bendis
Brian Michael Bendis
Brian Michael Bendis is an American comic book writer and erstwhile artist. He has won critical acclaim for his self-published, Image Comics and Marvel Comics work, and is one of the most successful writers working in mainstream comics, with his books selling consistently highly for over a...
and Jayatilleke visited Bungie to take up the offer of publishing the Halo Graphic Novel as well as to discuss the possibility of a tie-in comic book series.
The Halo Graphic Novel proved to be a critical and commercial success; the comic debuted at the number two position on the Diamond Comic Distributors
Diamond Comic Distributors
Diamond Comic Distributors, Inc. is the largest comic book distributor serving North America. They transport comic books from both big and small comic book publishers, or suppliers, to the retailers. Diamond dominates the direct market in the United States, and has exclusive arrangements with most...
' sales charts and more than 100,000 copies were published. Marvel Comics and Bungie announced the first Halo limited comic series, Halo: Uprising, at the San Diego
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
Comic-Con 2006
Comic-Con International
San Diego Comic-Con International, also known as Comic-Con International: San Diego , and commonly known as Comic-Con or the San Diego Comic-Con, was founded as the Golden State Comic Book Convention and later the San Diego Comic Book Convention in 1970 by Shel Dorf and a group of San Diegans...
.
Brian Michael Bendis, writer for the series, said in an interview he was "honored" to add to the Halo lore. He noted that the graphic novel brought "humanity and perspective" to the franchise, something not easily imparted through the games. Bendis described himself as a longtime player of Halo and had "done [his] Halo homework", reading and playing everything Halo. Bendis stated that Bungie was open to the Marvel team exploring lesser-known elements of the Halo universe or even bringing up new ideas, as opposed to sticking to a script or set of preplanned ideas from Bungie or Microsoft. The Philadelphia Daily News suggested that a Halo comic book would attract readers who had never picked up a comic book before. Bendis said that drawing casual gamers to the comics was a major goal for the series. While using established characters meant that Bendis had to cooperate with Bungie and Microsoft, he said he did not feel it was a restriction. "You can get pretty bloated and sloppy with total autonomy all the time." The Bungie team allowed Bendis to explore lesser known areas of the Halo story, which he enjoyed. Writing the dialogue for the Master Chief, who is faceless and normally silent during gameplay, was a challenge; Bendis scrapped much of the drafted dialogue to allow Maleev's work to define the character.
Originally, Halo: Uprisings entire four-issue series was to be published before the September 25, 2007, release of Halo 3. Bendis suggested that the series might be delayed unexpectedly due to the close cooperation between Marvel and Bungie. For unspecified reasons, the release of all issues of Halo: Uprising were pushed back. Issue #1's original date of August 15, 2007, was pushed back a week to August 22. Issue #2's original date of August 29 was pushed back and released on November 21. Issue #3 was originally slated for a September 2007 release but was pushed to a final release date of nearly a year late in August 2008. The constant revisions of the date became a running forum joke at the fan site Halo.Bungie.Org
Halo.Bungie.Org
Halo.Bungie.Org, often referred to as HBO, is a fansite created in 1999 by Claude Errera and two associates as a news site for the Bungie video game Halo: Combat Evolved. The site was started in 1999 as Blam.bungie.org based on the project's development name before it was called Halo...
. Issue #4 also saw multiple delays, pushed from a scheduled October 31, 2007 release to March 4 and then March 18, 2009. Claude Errera of Halo.Bungie.Org noted that, given the series' track record and the fact that the issue's release had been moved more than a dozen times by that time, its appearance in March would be unlikely. In announcing two new Halo comic series from Marvel in February 2009, Jayatilleke informed IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
that the final issue was in the process of being colored. The final release date for the issue was April 15. The series was collected into a single volume released in May 2009 (ISBN 0-7851-3647-9). The collected hardcover features a variety of bonus art and "making of" materials.
Plot
Uprisings story begins after the events of Halo 2Halo 2
Halo 2 is a first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie Studios. Released for the Xbox video game console on November 9, 2004, the game is the second installment in the Halo franchise and the sequel to 2001's critically acclaimed Halo: Combat Evolved...
, in which the alien collective known as the Covenant
Covenant (Halo)
The Covenant are a fictional theocratic military alliance of alien races who serve as the main antagonists in the Halo video game series. They are composed of a variety of diverse species, united under the religious worship of the enigmatic Forerunners and their belief that Forerunner ringworlds...
discovers the location of Earth and begins a full-scale invasion of their enemy's homeworld. The supersoldier Master Chief
Master Chief (Halo)
Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 is a fictional character and protagonist of the Halo fictional universe, created by Bungie. Master Chief is a player character in the trilogy of science fiction first-person shooter video games Halo: Combat Evolved, Halo 2, and Halo 3 and will appear in the...
is stowed away aboard an ancient Forerunner ship. On a course set for Earth, he is overwhelmed by a Covenant strike force and rendered unconscious. In the next scene, Colonel James Ackerson is being tortured by Covenant forces on Mars, to whom he betrays the existence of something called "The Key of Osanalan." Ackerson admits the Key is located in Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
.
In Cleveland, the narrative follows the point of view of a hotel concierge named Ruwan as the city falls under attack by Covenant forces. In the mayhem he meets a woman named Myras Tyla. Tyla remains calm even as Ruwan edges towards all-out panic. The pair are captured and with other residents herded into a sports stadium. The Covenant declare that the humans must give up the location of the Key to save their lives; Tyla is confused, but Ruwan states he knows exactly what it is.
Onboard the Forerunner ship, the Master Chief is captured and interrogated by Covenant forces, but manages to escape using a concealed weapon. On Earth, Ruwan and Tyla escape detection by the Covenant and appropriate a vehicle in an effort to escape. Ruwan reveals that the Key is in fact a fictional object that he and his brother James Ackerson made up as children; James told the Covenant about the Key in order to prevent the outright destruction of Cleveland. After fighting Covenant forces, Ruwan and Tyla are rescued by marines and leave the city. The Master Chief attempts to kill the Covenant's leader, Prophet of Truth, but is discovered as he takes aim; Truth escapes as the Chief is left to kill the Prophet's guards and find a way off the ship. Learning that there is no way to change the Forerunner ship's destination, the Chief jumps to Earth using a piece of the vessel as a heat shield.
After informing the UNSC about the true nature of the Key, Ruwan volunteers to "give" the Key to the Covenant. He is captured and brought aboard a Covenant ship. While the Covenant believe he is to be rescued due to a tracker embedded in him, Ruwan reveals he is actually a target. A coilgun
Coilgun
A coilgun is a type of projectile accelerator that consists of one or more coils used as electromagnets in the configuration of a synchronous linear motor which accelerate a magnetic projectile to high velocity...
takes aim at his position and destroys the ship. Upon learning that the Key is a fake, the Brutes on Mars behead Ackerson. In a relief camp, Tyla writes a song about Ruwan.
Reception
Halo: Uprising was a commercial success. The first issue sold out within 24 hours, leading Marvel to reissue the installment. The collected hardcover edition was the best-selling hardcover graphic book for the week ending June 13, according to The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
.
Reception to the miniseries varied. Reviewer Kevin Powers for Comics Bulletin
Comics Bulletin
Comics Bulletin is a website with an emphasis on the American comic book industry, updated daily with news, reviews, interviews, and editorial content. Coverage ranges from mainstream to independent/small press comic book and graphic novel publishers.-History:...
and Richard George of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
praised the action sequences and Maleev's visuals. The balance between action and story was also positively noted; Powers said that the first two sequences of the opening issue "masterfully capture the spirit of the game". On the other hand, IGN's Jesse Schedeen, reviewing the second issue, stated the series' appeal was mostly superficial: "try as they might to replicate [Halos] visceral moments, Bendis and Maleev just can't replicate the same feeling on the printed page."
Reviewers criticized the lack of Master Chief as a main character, similar to the response to the Halo Graphic Novel
Halo Graphic Novel
The Halo Graphic Novel is the first graphic novel adaptation of the science fiction video game Halo, published by Marvel Comics in partnership with Bungie Studios...
; Schedeen said that "Master Chief is barely a guest star in his own book", and that he was reduced to blasting aliens for much of the series. Schedeen felt that there was a lack of connections between the Ruwan plot and the Master Chief's adventures, which was never satisfactorily resolved. The comic's focus on Ruwan and Myra's subplot was also seen as a major fault: Comics Bulletin
Comics Bulletin
Comics Bulletin is a website with an emphasis on the American comic book industry, updated daily with news, reviews, interviews, and editorial content. Coverage ranges from mainstream to independent/small press comic book and graphic novel publishers.-History:...
's Geoff Collins, in a review of the second issue, said that "as a comic book fan I’m interested [in Ruwan and Myra], but the Halo fans I know could [sic] care less about them. And the story in this issue centers around them." Schedeen was surprised to find that he only began to care about them in the final issue. The many delays in publishing were a frequent point of frustration as well. Schedeen summed up his reviews by saying that he was hopeful the production teams behind the upcoming Halo books "will learn from the mistakes made here and craft stories that can consistently capture what makes Halo fun. At the very least, let's hope we don't have to wait a year between issues anymore".